


Pictures Don't Do You Justice

by izzsa



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Graduation, Harry likes Louis, I think Niall is the only one I'm sure about, Louis hates everyone, M/M, Pining, because that's never been done before, everyone else may or may not be English or American, i say soccer because im american, i will avoid naming locations, is soccer even a summer sport, questionable nationality, so many questions, will there be background ziam nobody knows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-12-16 01:10:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzsa/pseuds/izzsa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Styles, a high school senior, realizes a little too late just how much he likes his angry, know-it-all, and totally gorgeous classmate Louis Tomlinson. Instead of dealing with this issue, though, Harry complains to his friends and takes creepy pictures and hopes things will just work out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Da Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hi okay I finally got to a point where I'm comfortable beginning to post this fic. I hope people find this semi-enjoyable that'd be super cool. this is my first majorly-1d fic wow??? it's a disease, I tell you. I never asked for this.
> 
> this first chapter/prologue/whatever is just a rewrite & re-post of the drabble I wrote before, but I'll be posting the next chapter along with it
> 
> original drabble: http://archiveofourown.org/works/801980

“Wow,” Harry breathed out one day in study hall, “when did Louis get so cute?” Harry stared unabashedly at the boy across the room, leaning over to whisper in Liam’s ear.

“Huh?” Liam’s head swiveled around to find a head of fringed, honey-brown hair. The owner of it, a certain Louis Tomlinson, super-star soccer player, was frowning down at the book he was reading while tapping his desk silently to the beat of whatever song was playing on his iPod. Liam eyed the boy up and down, looking skeptical. “He looks the same as always,” he said as he turned back to his math homework.

Harry slid further down the surface of their table, leaning his chin into the heel of his palm, propped up on his elbow. His green eyes were wide in fascination as he looked the footie player up and down and nearly drooled all over his notebook as well as his friend in the seat next to him.

“Nah, man,” he said, “there’s something really… _wow_ about him. Not just today, but, like, it’s intensified lately, ya know? I dunno what it is.”

And it was true. Harry hadn’t just had an epiphany overnight – he’d noticed Louis for a long time, how he was so cheeky with the teachers, how truly intelligent he was although nobody cared to listen to him, and definitely his stunning smile that Harry couldn’t say he’d seen a lot- but whenever he _did_ smile, it was truly breathtaking and it lit up the room. Harry had admired Louis since Harry had moved to this school in sixth grade, but only just recently had he realized just how _cute_ and definitely _dateable_ he was on top of everything else.

It had been a week or so ago, when the realization really hit. Harry had just turned in his quiz to Mr. Cowell, feeling good about how he did. It was on _Catcher in the Rye_ , a book he’d read prior to this school year, and felt that he knew pretty well inside and out. He was smiling as he strode back to his seat, passing Louis on the way and not caring one bit about the way he’d looked up briefly from the book he was reading – of course he finished his quiz already – to watch him walk by. People looked at each other, no big deal. Harry looked down at his desk the moment he sat down, doodling random circles all over it while he waited for his other classmates to finish up.

“ _Harry._ ”

Harry didn’t look up, only half-hearing the whisper and assuming he was simply hearing things.

“ _Hey. Harry._ ”

He looked up this time, finding himself face to face with Louis who was sat two seats ahead of him, with the seat between them unoccupied. Harry met Louis’ blue eyes and gave him a quizzical look. Louis grinned and nodded towards Harry’s chest.

“ _Good band,_ ” he whispered, more mouthing the words than speaking them. Harry stared back at him blankly. He had no idea what this lad was on about.

“ _The shirt,_ ” Louis clarified, motioning up and down his own blue and white striped one then pointed at Harry’s, “ _good band._ ”

Finally understanding, Harry glanced down at his own torso to see his The Script shirt covering it. Harry flashed a grin up at Louis, not quite sure what to say. He _loved_ The Script, and anyone who liked them was awesome in his book. More than awesome. He settled on making a noise that sounded both like a chuckle and like he was choking on his own saliva. _Smooth._ Harry blushed at his own idiocy, but if Louis had noticed it, then he didn’t show it. Instead, he returned a quick charming grin to Harry and spun back around in his seat to continue reading his book. _A Short History of Nearly Everything_ , it said on the cover that Harry very inconspicuously leaned over to see. It was thick and blue and Louis had clearly read it before – he’d written notes all over the margins and between lines and paragraphs, circled things and stuck torn bits of sticky notes to certain pages. Louis’ handwriting was small and neat and looked more like art than words. Harry bit his lip and forced his eyes back down to his own crude doodles.

Harry hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Louis since that day.

“Uh, yeah, I guess?” Liam said hesitantly, pulling Harry out of his dreamy daze. But Harry didn’t need Liam’s approval. He was falling hard and fast for Louis Tomlinson and he didn’t know why, but he was okay with it. He pulled out his phone and clicked a fast picture of those handsome shoulder blades he’d started dreaming about lately. It was blurry, and Liam rolled his eyes, but Harry smiled a dimpled smile at the pixely image now gracing his screen just long enough to miss the quick subtle glance back at him he received from a pair of sea blue eyes up in the front of the classroom.


	2. Foreign Films and Emo Bands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> don't talk to me about how short this is

If you asked him, Harry would say he didn’t have crushes very often. This was a lie, of course, but this is Harry’s story, and what he says goes. Harry would say that he found a lot of people attractive – guys, mainly – but only got crushes on those he deemed worthy. People like Louis. Wandering into school just as the bell indicating the end of first period rang (he didn’t have a homeroom class and enjoyed the privilege of a late start to each morning), Harry let his eyes scan the crowd of teen hormones and greasy hair for a tanned and grumpy face that said _I’m going places and you’re all gonna be working in a cubicle ‘til you’re 60_.

Harry decided that he admired Louis most for his cockiness. Maybe it was because Harry hardly had any self-confidence? Or maybe the fact that Louis seemed to believe himself to be better than everyone else had Harry believing it too.

He’d dreamt about Louis last night, believe it or not. Somewhere, Harry had heard that dreams were omens – glimpses into the future. And yet somewhere else he had heard they were simply your mind going off of what you’d last thought about before falling asleep. And however likely it was that Harry had been thinking about going on a long, romantic car ride with Louis before drifting off, he definitely hoped his dream had some sort of hidden fortune in it.

After two or so minutes, Harry gave up his search for Louis and begrudgingly made his way towards his Government class before the bell rang again. His friend Zayn was already in there, scrolling boredly through his phone that Harry was convinced was attached to his hand, and Harry pouted his lip out further to get his friend’s attention as he slid into the seat next to him.

“What’s wrong, sour-puss?” Zayn asked mockingly and Harry growled. Zayn laughed and reached over to stroke Harry’s cheek as he finished typing something with one hand. He put his phone down on the desk, and then he looked at Harry with his lovely brown eyes that made all the girls melt, and gave him a look to explain what’s wrong.

“I have a crush on someone,” Harry whined, sounding like a five year old who’d accidentally broken the arm off his favorite action figure.

“Again? So you’ve gotten over that one loser –”

Harry put a hand up to stop him. “We don’t talk about that anymore,” he reminded him strictly. “That was a mistake and it never happened.” They didn’t need to go reminiscing about guys he’d met on his and his friends’ summer holiday last year. Back when Harry was just realizing there was a world outside of high school. A world of guys who actually found him appealing. Harry had fallen in love with the feeling of being liked, and not the person who liked him. It was a long story. Clearly not worth retelling.

“Whatever you say,” Zayn chuckled and looked at his sharpie-painted fingernails thoughtfully.

Harry frowned. And at this point, he couldn’t keep it in any longer. “It’s Louis Tomlinson,” he said, and stared at the side of Zayn’s face for some sort of reaction. Zayn pursed his lips and turned to look at Harry properly with an expression that looked perfectly calm and distressingly judgmental. Harry twitched under his gaze.

“Tomlinson,” he repeated, as if he was waiting for the punchline. Harry nodded and bit his lip in an attempt to keep from smiling simply from the sound of the boy’s name. Zayn huffed in amusement and turned back around in his seat to face the front just as their teacher walked in. He reached up to fix his deep black quiff that was already perfect. “Well, color me surprised,” he said, and didn’t bring it up again.

*

“Oi, let’s throw a banger and invite him,” Niall suggested around the burger in his mouth, getting right down to business. Niall was always helpful, though maybe a bit too brash in helping Harry out with his little crushes. Harry stopped and considered this for a moment.

“Are you sure he’s the partying type?” he questioned. Niall shrugged without looking up from his food.

“Never really talked to him, so hell if I know. Right shame if he’s not, though.” He went to take a swig of his Gatorade and pointed at Harry with his free hand that currently had ketchup smeared over three fingers, indicating that Harry should wait as he wasn’t done talking. Harry saw Liam visibly twitch at the sight but he said nothing.

“I’m not letting some lame-ass bitch take my little Harry out just to read books quietly by the fire and watch foreign films while listening to emo bands. Not if I can help it.”

Harry blushed at the idea of actually going on a date with Louis and didn’t say anything about how appealing the date Niall described honestly sounded to him.

“But why would they listen to music when they were already watching –” Liam began to mutter smartly into his sandwich with a small smile before Niall turned and started bonking him over the head with the empty Gatorade bottle he’d just drained.

“Because they can’t – !” _bonk_ “ – fucking – !” _bonk_ “ – understand it!” _bonkbonkbonk_. Liam took his beating with a quiet giggle until Niall started tickling him. Harry laughed as he watched his friends duke it out, calling out “asshole”, “prick”, and the like (and nearly taking it to the floor when Liam lost his balance briefly) until finally calling it a draw as they tried to catch their breath. Liam flattened out his hair casually and Niall tossed his bottle into the trash bin about 15 feet away, making it on the first try (and earning a disapproving glance from one of the lunch ladies).

“All I’m saying is that I don’t want Harry going out with some wuss,” he stated with finality. Harry laughed fondly.

“Glad to know you care about my wellbeing, Nialler,” he said. Niall grinned proudly and Liam shook his head. Harry sighed, though. “I just wish I would actually _get_ as far as going out with him." He thought back to his dream and how right it’d felt being with Louis, even if it was only Dream Louis. But they seemed to have a lot in common. Harry was sure Louis and Dream Louis would get on well enough…and Harry definitely needed to stop thinking about that before it turned into a ménage à trois daydream featuring Harry and Louis-squared. The last thing Harry needed was tented pants right before Calculus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you ever get way ahead of yourself when writing a fic and write out the entire ending while forgetting to think about what is happening right NOW in the story? yeah me too


	3. 'I'm Liam and I'm a Nerd'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is awkward and Liam and Nick make fun of him.

Harry wasn’t able to focus much during calculus, though he honestly hadn’t been able to focus much since it’d hit April, really. But Louis was making it even harder, what with his shining blue eyes and windswept hair taunting Harry in the back of his mind. It really was incredible how quickly Harry could become infatuated with someone in less than a week’s time, and simply because he’d complimented Harry’s shirt. For his favorite band. And it didn’t help that Louis was already a very admirable person. Harry didn’t like the way the feelings all came crashing down on him, unlike any other person he’d ever liked in the past. It was usually gradual, starting with Harry annoyingly talking about the person, subtly mentioning things he’d noticed about them (“ _Hey did you hear the announcements? Taylor’s gonna be in the talent show this weekend, isn’t that cool?_ ”, “ _Dude, she’s entered every year since elementary school._ ”). Then it’d steadily grow until the point at which Zayn grabbed Harry by the shoulders and shook him, saying, “If I drug them and dump them on your doorstep so you can have your way, will you _please_ stop. Fucking. Talking about them??”

Louis was different, though. In Louis’ case, all he had to say were four words (and then repeat them enough times for Harry to actually comprehend them), and in a matter of days Harry couldn’t keep it in anymore and was spilling his ridiculous, pitiful feelings to all his friends.

And speaking of his friends…

Harry startled at the sensation of his phone vibrating in his pocket. Hoping nobody heard it or noticed him pulling out his horribly outdated flip-phone – though he glanced around the classroom warily anyway – he checked his texts to see that he’d been messaged by none other than Nick Grimshaw, his friend who’d graduated a year before, and who was now going to college a couple hours away.

 **Nick   (13:34)** yooooooooooooo

Harry snorted quietly to himself. Typical Nick. He adjusted the big textbook on his desk to better shield his phone from the teacher’s view and started typing out a reply.

 **Harry (13:35)** sup man hows the real world treatin u

It wasn’t a secret how much Harry envied Nick’s age, and the fact that he was already out of high school and on to bigger, better things. And here Harry was still stuck in the annoyingly predictable routine of high school “drama”, that wasn’t even important enough to be considered as such.

 **Nick   (13:35)** good good. hows life back home? what # bf is ol swifty on now

 **Harry (13:36)** 8\. she still hasnt beat her record of 12 from sophomore year

 **Nick   (13:36)** shame, that. and ur graduating soon too eh

 **Harry (13:36)** yup just a month or so now

“Alright, homework tonight is review for the test Friday: Page 84, questions one through 25, just the odds.” Harry looked up to watch his teacher write just that on the board as she spoke, and put his phone away to scribble it all down before the bell rang for 7th period. He felt his phone vibrate again, but Nick knew he was in school and wasn’t as free to talk as _some_ people who had for the most part escaped the world of schedules and authority figures who actually cared what you wore and said, and whether or not you paid attention to their mundane lectures.

Harry gathered up his books and headed towards the study hall room where Liam was waiting for him.

Oh – well. That's.

Harry stopped in the doorway for half a second too long when he saw Louis sitting at a table near the far corner. He was writing something long and probably smart-ass-ish, judging by the undeniably smug look on his face as he neatly jotted down word after word. He stopped, though, when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Harry had paused in the doorway and he looked up in interest. Harry sucked in a nervous breath and ducked his head down as he scurried over to the table where Liam was sat, already giggling at the show and completely disregarding the math homework he’d been working on. That asshole. Liam pretended to be this sweet puppy dog most of the time, but he was secretly a horrible, sadistic shithead. Really.

“Shut up,” Harry hissed and sat down without tearing his eyes from the table, “is he still looking?”

“Nah, man, you’re good.”

Immediately, Harry lifted his head to look over and – _fuck_! Harry nearly slammed his head on the desk from the force with which he swung it to stare intensely down at his closed notebook after seeing Louis eyeing him curiously from across the room.

“Fuck. Fuck, you son of a bitch,” Harry mumbled under the sound of Liam’s stifled laughter.

*

“Harry, it’s nearly the end of senior year,” Liam reminded him, “why are you torturing yourself over this guy you’ve hardly spoken to?”

Harry groaned. “Well it’s not like I chose for this to happen!” he snapped back. He doodled another frowny face in the margin of Liam’s math homework.

“So what are you gonna do besides complain about it?” Liam teased. He batted Harry’s hand away and continued working. Harry’s hand returned almost immediately and Liam sighed quietly in defeat.

“I, uh,” Harry scrunched his nose in thought, “I don’t know, okay,” he admitted. He shrugged as he scribbled some hair on his drawing and added a speech bubble:   _I’m Liam and I’m a nerd!_ it read. There. That’ll show that jerk not to question Harry’s choices. “Can’t I just whine about it for a while? Whining makes me feel better.”

Liam scoffed and didn’t say anything else. Harry counted it as a win. He looked up across the room to peek a glance at Louis just in time to watch him laugh out loud at some presumably dumb but nevertheless hilarious video his friend was showing him. Louis threw his head back when he laughed, exposing his long, beautiful neck. Harry’s hand flew to cover his face in an attempt to keep himself from going over there and leaving bruises all over it with his mouth. Liam evidently heard the little hitch in Harry’s breath just as Louis’ laugh rang through the entire study hall room, louder and richer than the rest of his friends’. Liam smiled and shook his head at Harry’s hopelessness. Like he said. A sadistic shithead, he was.

*

Their class was outside for the last ten or so minutes of the period, in an odd fit of summer fever from the students and random mercifulness from their study hall monitor. Harry and Liam sat in the grass while some other students and even their supervisor played with the Frisbee that one of their classmates inexplicably had with them at the time. Harry giggled as he watched Louis getting really into it, smiling as he stumbled into a dive for a toss that was a little off-target. Harry covered up his giggle with a hand and tried to distract himself with picking at the blades of grass around him. He glanced over at Liam who was actually doing homework still, then at the rest of the students who had decided to sit out on the Frisbee game, none of them paying any attention to him. Cautiously, Harry took out his iPod (much better for pictures than his phone) and aimed it at the group of Frisbee players who were hopefully too preoccupied to notice. He poked the screen in order to focus it on the little dot of a person on the far side of the field who was bending his knees, readying himself to catch the disc that Danielle was currently aiming at him.

As soon as Danielle flung the Frisbee, Louis was running full speed towards it. The wind had evidently caught it as it went more upwards than forwards, and Danielle squealed with laughter when Louis still ran after the wayward disc. Harry clicked the circle in the middle of the little screen multiple times just as Louis lunged forward into the air, reaching for the flying disc.

Louis may have ended up crashing to the ground, but Harry still managed to catch an incredibly adorable image of the tiny tan boy midair. Harry giggled when he saw the perfect picture and immediately shoved it into Liam’s face.

“…That’s pretty creepy, dude,” Liam said as he squinted at the screen through the glare of the sun.

“No!” Harry protested, pointing at the image, “it’s totally artistic! Look at how he’s is in the bottom left, and you can see the trees up there.” He put his iPod down to pull up a dandelion sprouting near his shoe. “It’s the rule of threes, and it’s aesthetically pleasing.” Liam rolled his eyes at Harry’s reasoning.

“Still creepy,” Liam muttered, shaking his head, but he smiled nonetheless. Harry grinned and reached up to tuck the dandelion behind his friend’s ear.

*

Next period came, which meant English class with Louis. Which also meant, to Harry’s delight and another eye roll from Liam, following Louis’ pretty ass all the way to said English class.

Harry made sure to dawdle on his way to the door, making sure Louis got ahead of him. Harry watched as Louis jogged towards the door. He spun the Frisbee around in his hands a bit - those cute, tanned little hands of his - before tossing it back to the kid who'd brought it originally, grin plastered on his face. Harry smiled fondly at the sight and felt his heart swell.

And while he was busy making moon-eyes at Tomlinson, Liam started pushing him from behind, murmuring, “go on, then, catch up with your boyfriend before you're late and Cowell has your head.”

Harry giggled and did as he was told. He caught the door behind Louis who looked back briefly to catch his eye as he held it for him. And Louis didn't seem to notice the impact of his cerulean eyes in such close proximity to Harry's face, but Harry's heart definitely stopped for a moment as he very nearly tripped over the threshold. A very distinct snicker could be heard behind him and Harry whipped his head around to send Liam a warning glance, blushing madly. And as he followed the soccer player downstairs towards Mr. Cowell's room, he was so embarrassed by his reaction that he could barely be consoled by the sight of Louis' round butt in his tight jeans, bouncing delightfully with every two skipped steps on the way downstairs.

*

Safe and sound in English class, with Mr. Cowell already going on about something completely insignificant that he'd found incredibly symbolic in  _The Awakening,_ Harry slumped down in his seat in the very back and threw one last fleeting glance over at Louis who looked like he was ready to pounce on their teacher with snarky comebacks the moment he got the chance. Harry slipped his phone out of his pocket once more and checked that text from Nick he never read.

 **Nick   (13:37)** rock on man ull be off to the real world in the blink of an eye. leave all those other kiddies behind

Harry bit his lip at the thought. He wasn't sad to be leaving high school, not one bit. He knew he wouldn't miss any of his classmates other than his close friends who he'd keep in touch with easily enough. It bothered him, though, knowing that there were some people he'd like to keep in touch with - or at the very least keep track of - but knew there was no way he'd be able to. Like Louis.

Harry sunk a little further into his chair and opened a new text message.

 **Harry (14:08)** hey so u rmmbr louis tomlinson

 **Nick   (14:09)** yea Tommo that one hockey player or s/t w the big mouth? what abt him

Nick was almost as attached to his phone as Zayn was, so Harry wasn't startled by the immediate response he got.

 **Harry (14:10)** soccer. he’s rly fit

 **Harry (14:11)** right

 **Nick   (14:12)** i guess...

 **Harry (14:12)** since when is he so fit

He'd been in the process of typing this last text before Nick even replied. He stole a glance at Louis again who was now informing the rest of the class how the ocean in the novel was directly symbolic to Edna's love for Robert, and her drowning herself was to show her eternal...

 **Harry (14:13)** its like **.** Wow.

 **Harry (14:13)** and he’s so smart too like he always has been but

Maybe Harry would be smart too if he didn't text during class, and spend his free time singing to the radio and trying and failing at learning guitar from Niall.

 **Harry (14:14)** dude im going insane help

 **Nick   (14:15)** talk to him

Harry wrinkled his nose, forgetting subtlety.

 **Harry (14:16)** no way he hates everyone

 **Nick   (14:16)** no1 could hate u Hazz :)

 **Harry (14:17)** shh no im srs hes so misunderstood and hes like way too good for everyone here including me

 **Nick   (14:18)** u wont get any D w/ that attitude

 **Harry (14:22)** i hate you.

 **Nick   (14:22)** ily2 <3 class soon gotta go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy because this chapter was a lot longer than the last one! Every kudos is a kiss on my cat's face in honor of your lovely selves.


	4. Highschool Hierarchy Has Never Not Been the Stupidest Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry thinks too much and finds out something terrible

Louis leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, frowning at nothing. He was temporarily jostled from his thoughts when Brian nudged his elbow and leaned in to say something, with a dumb smile etched across his face – probably a horrible joke that led one way or another to either sex, boobs, or drugs. Louis turned and his stony expression remained in place as he listened to Brian’s hushed joke, after which he immediately giggled at his own hilariousness.  Louis sighed and faced the front of the class again, shaking his head. Ignoring Louis’ reaction, Brian turned to Matt on the other side of him, probably to tell the exact same joke.

Harry rolled his eyes at what he saw from across the room. He was lucky enough to sit alone in the back, a choice he’d made at the beginning of the year when Mr. Cowell had expressed his utter indifference to where his students sat. No one had questioned Harry sitting alone – he’d never been very sociable, and no one was particularly disappointed by that. Louis, on the other hand, had been more or less forced to sit with Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dumber, and the dorky girls Holly and Miranda behind him that would squabble into his ear like horrible birds of Hell.

The hierarchy at their school was laughable, to say the least. People pretended that there wasn’t any, but it was hard to ignore. Harry pitied Louis, having been sucked into the group of students who were known by their full names, led most if not all school clubs and activities, and dated almost exclusively amongst themselves.

It’d been in middle school, around seventh or eighth grade when everyone had been sort of locked into their social statuses – those lessons in elementary school obviously having failed at preventing exactly that kind of thing. Louis, so short even back then, with his soccer jerseys and his boisterous laugh, had played soccer up until then and intended to for a long time. Harry, with his unruly mane of hair and his piles of wristbands up both arms, liked to doodle in his Camp Rock notebook and hum to the tune of classic rock songs whose lyrics he didn’t understand the meaning of at the time.

Naturally, it had been the sports jocks and the cheerleaders who would become the inbred monarchy later on in high school, and so Louis had been sorted in with them, and he’d been just like the rest of them at first. Everyone recognized him and knew his name, people talked about him when they saw him holding hands with Hannah at the football game, and he was given the nickname “Tommo”… while Harry spent his time avoiding eye contact in the halls, and his nickname early on had been _why don’t you talk at all?_

But, if Harry remembered correctly, Louis slowly began to show signs of distaste towards these ‘friends’ in the beginnings of high school. He’d joined the robotics team and speech and debate, he’d begun dressing differently, trading his basketball shorts for tight jeans and hideous neon tennis shoes for TOMs when he wasn’t on the field, and gradually became what he was today. Reluctantly popular. People still paid attention to him, as they always had, but he’d turned cold and distasteful towards the students he’d once considered good friends.

In his mind, Harry liked to compare Louis to an ornery prince who wanted nothing to do with the royal family and inheriting the throne, grinning stupidly at the idea of Louis wearing a shiny gold crown to match his vintage tees. Harry glanced over at Louis again to see him leaning forward to rest his chin on his crossed arms, still looking bored and maybe a little upset from the way his eyebrows stitched together in an angry crease. Harry bit his lip and watched him, wished for Louis to cheer up. What he got instead, though, was two sapphire eyes all of a sudden swiveling to look back at him, not changing their bored expression. Harry dropped his head immediately to stare at his hands and didn’t look up again.

*

Nick texted Harry again later on, most likely bored to tears in whatever class he had.

 **Nick   (14:30)** how’s the boyf doin?  
 **Harry (14:31)** he looks sad today  
 **Nick   (14:31)** u should cheer him up ;)  
 **Harry (14:31)** hahahahahahaha good one  
 **Nick   (14:32)** im srs! Give him one of ur beautiful smiles n knock him off his feet

Harry couldn’t help blushing at the compliment, but he remained obstinate.

 **Harry (14:32)** ok yea sure

“Harry, is that a phone you have there?” Mr. Cowell said, interrupting his own lecture.

Blushing more furiously now, Harry shoved the device into the depths of his bookbag.

“Nope, just my calculator,” he lied with a charming grin.

“Well, as you might have noticed, we’re not in math class right now. It’d be greatly appreciated if you decided to listen to my lesson today.” He went back to his notes, “ _Anyway,_ as I was saying…”

A few of Harry’s classmates sniggered but he knew they’d forget about it soon enough. No one paid much attention to him and it wasn’t like it mattered what they thought of him anyway. He’d be long gone in just a couple months. It’d be a lie if he said he didn’t feel a little melancholy at the thought, but he was also tired of this place. The only person more _done_ with high school than him was probably Zayn, skipping school all the time like he did, and maybe Louis.

*

“Are you gonna ask her out?”

Harry’s ears perked up suddenly to listen to the hushed conversation on the other side of the room. Holly, a volleyball player was leaned over the desk, talking over Louis’ shoulder. His sort-of friend Matthew was hunched over next to him, just as annoyingly close. Louis looked uncomfortable, forcing a smile that didn’t meet his eyes as he shook his head – more waving them off than saying ‘no’. Harry hoped he was saying ‘no’. Who were they talking about? Was this some kind of cruel joke? Harry strained his ears to listen to them under Mr. Cowell’s lecture. Louis’ tanned face looked vaguely red from behind his soft brown fringe, and Harry felt bad about the unwanted attention Louis was getting.

“Aww! Matt look, he’s blushing!” Holly squealed, causing both Harry and Louis to cringe and Mr. Cowell (who obviously wasn’t very into his own lecture anyway) to stop talking altogether and turn to look at them. Holly seemed to enjoy now having the attention of the entire class and started talking a little louder.

“You liiiike her!” she sing-songed and gripped Louis’ shoulders and shook him slightly, being the overly handsy girl she was. Louis shrugged her off.

“Piss off,” he muttered to her and Matt with a small laugh.

Harry sighed sadly and leaned his cheek so hard into the heel of his palm that it’d definitely leave a mark.

“What’s this about?” Mr. Cowell asked curiously, always having been the kind of teacher who got weirdly involved with his students’ drama. Holly perked up, seeming more than happy to supply the class with her knowledge. She actually _stood up_ , to Louis’ obvious dismay, and addressed her peers with a cheery smile.

“I’ve seen Louis every day this week, walking to class with _Eleanor_ ,” she paused for emphasis, looking for the class’s reaction. Harry had no idea who this Eleanor was, but everyone else seemed to, “and they were _talking_ and they _hugged_ and I just think they’re the cutest thing!” She clapped her hands together in adoration and looked back at Louis whose face was hidden in his hands.

Horrified by the mental image of Louis being _the cutest thing_ with anyone, Harry watched Louis and waited for him to deny what Holly was saying. Though appearing to be just as horrified, Louis didn’t say anything, just wrinkled his nose and tore the frilly bits off the edge of the paper on his desk.

Mr. Cowell finally decided to act like a real teacher and instructed everyone to settle down and for Holly to take her seat so the lesson could continue, and Harry had never been more thankful to listen to him ramble on about _The Awakening_.

But when the period was nearly over with five or so minutes to spare, Harry was boredly scribbling the lyrics to Viva la Vida on the back of the notes he’d taken in class. He wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings, but some sort of sixth sense caused him to look up and tune in to what Louis was telling Matt as they stood around in the middle of the room, talking, away from the girls who were busy gossiping about other unimportant things that probably weren’t their business.

“Yeah we Skype and stuff sometimes,” he murmured with his hands shoved in his pockets bashfully, “and I went to her house the other day for the first time.”

“Cool, man. So are you official, then?”

Harry sucked in a sharp breath and held it as he leaned forward in his seat, forgetting subtlety.

Louis shrugged. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

Harry’s strangled whine of despair was only masked by the shrill ringing of the bell signaling the end of the period. Leanne who was sitting a couple seats ahead of him turned to give him a look, but he hurried and picked up his stuff to head to his next class.

It was just his luck, however, that on his way to the door, Louis arrived at the same time, almost bumping into him.

“Sorry,” he said distractedly as he shoved an earbud in his ear and brushed past to get out to the hallway. Harry would have been thrilled if he hadn’t already been completely devastated. Harry sighed and stared down at his shoes the rest of the way.

*

Harry trudged into chemistry with the poutiest of pouts, slamming his books down on the counter with an aggravated _thump_ that didn’t once stop Zayn’s incessant texting, but startled Niall from the slumber he’d undoubtedly fallen into the moment he’d taken his seat. Niall ran a surprised hand through his wild mess of blond hair and blinked himself awake just as Harry flung himself dramatically onto the counter face-first.

“Oi, what’s the matter with you?” Niall grumbled.

Zayn sent the text he’d been typing and set his phone on the counter to scroll through Tumblr with one finger as he idly stroked Harry’s curls with the other.

“I’m gonna die,” Harry grumbled into his folded arms on the table.

“I highly doubt it,” Zayn sighed, “what’d Tomlinson do this time?”

Harry’s head rolled over to look up at his friend with dramatically sad eyes.

“Do you know anyone named Eleanor?” he asked. Zayn knew nearly everyone at their school – though why he still chose to hang out with the likes of Harry, Niall and Liam most of the time when he was so popular was beyond any of them – so he had to know _something_. Zayn made a face that told Harry he understood what he meant by asking.

“I can’t say I do,” he said thoughtfully as he tapped his phone screen a couple times to open Facebook. “Do you know her last name?”

“Hopefully not Tomlinson,” Harry whined. Zayn rolled his eyes and scoffed, but Niall’s mouth dropped open.

“What?” he all but shouted just as their teacher walked in. She shot a look at him along with various other students who hated his guts – mainly girls. He lowered his voice and leaned in over the table, “you think he’s dating his cousin or something?”

Harry raised his head from the table and laughed at this, feeling slightly better, though not by much. He reached over and patted Niall on the cheek fondly. “Oh, Nialler,” he cooed, “don’t ever change.” He pulled away and Niall still looked confused as hell but didn’t ask again.

“Do you know what grade she’s in?” Zayn asked now, not having put his phone away despite the teacher’s annoyed glance. Zayn could get good grades without really trying, but he was also kind of an asshole. And also admittedly hot as hell. Teachers didn’t quite know how to deal with him. Harry and Niall, however, took out their notebooks and began vaguely listening to the lesson – if only for Harry to jot down some notes to review later, and for Niall to doodle in the margins and ultimately fail the test on Friday.

“I dunno,” harry whispered under their teacher’s lecture, “all I know is her first name.”

“Here,” Zayn slid his phone next to Harry’s notebook, “we have the most mutual friends, and it says she’s in a relationship.” Harry glanced over to see a picture of a distressingly beautiful brunette smiling up at him with two fingers in a peace sign. Harry sneered unintentionally. Their teacher up front cleared her throat and _her_ sneer then was definitely intentional.

“Louis doesn’t have a Facebook because he’s too much of a hipster,” Zayn murmured and sent a look towards Harry who also didn’t have one. Harry grinned brightly at him and Zayn rolled his eyes with a smile, “but I think she’s your best bet. Eleanor Calder. I’ve seen her around before. She’s a couple years younger than us.”

Harry had stopped taking notes a little while back and just sat there with his pencil pressed to his paper while he listened. After a beat, he moved to write in the margin. _Eleanor Calder_.

“Okay, thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i only barely know where i'm going with this and i'm sorry
> 
> i'm sure it'll get better if harry actually talks to louis. i'm pretty sure that's how life works, right?
> 
> ps nick is gonna show up soon hopefully he will get the ball rolling


End file.
